Hepatic artery aneurysm erosion into the stomach: an unusual cause of gastrointestinal bleeding.
BACKGROUND
Hepatic artery aneurysms are the second most common visceral aneurysms. The natural history of hepatic artery aneurysms typically results in enlargement, rupture, and life-threatening hemorrhage. Atherosclerosis, traditionally, has been the most common cause of hepatic artery aneurysm.


OBJECTIVE
A case of a hepatic artery aneurysm invading the stomach is presented to draw attention to the clinical presentation of this potentially catastrophic entity.


METHODS
A 74-year-old man presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with hematemesis. He was hemodynamically stable with a hemoglobin of 10.5. Abdominal CT imaging revealed a hepatic artery aneurysm that eroded into the stomach. The erosion was successfully repaired operatively and the aneurysm was embolized.


CONCLUSIONS
The most common symptom is epigastric pain. The clinical and radiological findings of a hepatic artery aneurysm eroding into the stomach with subsequent upper and lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage, as highlighted in the case reported, have received little prior attention in the medical literature.
Papafragkou
Sotirios
S
Department of Surgery, Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow, New York 11554, USA.
Haimovici
Lioudmila
L
Gonzalez
Edwin
E
Barrett
Leonard
L
Cirincione
Elizabeth
E
D000368:Aged; D000783:Aneurysm / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology*; D006499:Hepatic Artery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed